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Armageddon Now
| }} /Gallery|Gallery}} /Videos|Videos}} }} |Season = 4 |Antagonist = Hope , Callisto |Setting = Thebes, Arcadia |In-Universe Date = Year 3 |Production # = V0319 |Filming Dates = 1 December to 9 December 1997 |Original Air-Date = |Written By = Paul Robert Coyle |Story By = |Teleplay By = |Directed By = Mark Beesley |Order in Series = 72 of 111 |Order in Season = 13 of 22 |Order in Franchise= 136 of 304 |Prev Episode in Series = "Men in Pink" |Next Episode in Series = "Armageddon Now Part 2" |Prev Episode in Franchise = "The Bitter Suite" |Next Episode in Franchise = "One Against an Army" |title cap image = }} Summary Hercules and Iolaus are building Alcmene's walls and she comes by to give the duo the news that some king has gone berserk with Ares because his daughter has got married. Hope releases Callisto from her cave. Callisto wants to be left alone, but Hope convinces her to destroy Hercules in exchange to "rid" her of her "demons." Ares and Strife give the king Tyndareus a powerful bow and arrow so he can have a big bloody war and make Ares happy. But the king only wants his daughter back, but Ares convinces him to take the weapons and go to war. Hercules and Iolaus spoil the party and Hercules collapses the ceiling over all the powerful weapons, leaving the Ares and Strife very angry and upset. Strife tries some...weird...moves on Hercules, but Hercules just sends him flying. The heroes solve the king's problems by talking sense into him and he invites them to is daughter's wedding feast. Ares is still moaning about losing a good customer. Strife does something stupid and the god sends him flying. Callisto comes in with plans of her own. Ares and Callisto flirt and set Strife on fire. They start talking about pounding Hercules, but when Strife tries to talk sense into Ares, he does not listen. Ares and Callisto go outside and open the space portal, releasing Hercules' bearded counterpart, the Sovereign. He calls Callisto a priestess and approves of Ares wearing black. Ares takes the pendant of Hind blood and the gods disappear. Ares and Callisto flirt some more, with Strife getting more stuffing beaten out of him. Hercules and Iolaus run into a villager, who gets scared of a shaven Hercules wearing new clothes. He says a bearded black leather wearing Hercules was tearing up a defenseless town. The Sovereign starts beating up villagers and destroying buildings because of all the happy faces. Hercules and Iolaus put the Sovereign to sleep and take him to where the portal opens. Callisto and Ares open the portal and the two Hercules get sucked in. The gods go away, leaving one very confused and grievous Iolaus. The two Hercules end up in the Sovereign's "nightmare." the Sovereign complains about his luck and decides to kill Hercules to they can both die. Ares, Callisto, as well as Strife are toasting to the fact that Hercules is gone. Callisto tries to get the pendent and Ares beats her up. Iolaus hears them and sneaks into the room. When Callisto has lost all her strength, Hope shows up and revives the goddess. It is Ares turn to be beaten and he gets a good one. She takes the pendent and backs away. Strife tries to talk to her, but she covers a knife with the blood and stabs him. While the pair of Hercules are fighting, Hercules feels a shaking and realizes something terrible has happened. Iolaus runs into the room and finds out that Strife is dead. Callisto and Hope leave. Ares says good stuff about the dead little freak and about the force of evil in Callisto's friend. Iolaus and Ares go to get her. Hope sends Callisto back in time so she can kill Alcmene before Hercules is born. Ares sends Iolaus back in time to stop Callisto because Ares has to "fix things" there with Strife being gone. We see a quick view of Iolaus' life, then he ends up in Corinth where the "harlot" Alcmene is pregnant. Hercules and the Sovereign beat each other up some more, then they have a meaningful chat. Hercules finds out that the Sovereign could watch the present via a window in a pool. Hercules sees Iolaus running through the window, but Hercules cannot reach him. Iolaus runs to young Alcmene's place, where she is talking to her dead husband's grave. Iolaus tells her that a crazy woman is coming and they have to go. Callisto shows up and throws a fireball at Alcmene's direction. Disclaimer "Once again, Alcmene's fence was not finished during the production of this motion picture." Background Information * This episode directly follows XWP's "Maternal Instincts"; the opening shot is in fact the closing shot of that episode. If one pays close attention, they can see Xena and Gabrielle at the funeral pyres while hearing Ephiny sing. * The first shot in this episode is taken from Marcaus Funeral walk in the XWP episode "The Path Not Taken". ' * This episode marks the series' first inclusion of the Dahak storyline, which began earlier in "The Deliverer" on ''XWP. * This is the first episode of the entire franchise in which a god (Strife) is killed. * Music from "A Necessary Evil" is played as Callisto emerges from the mine at the beginning of the episode. * Strife compares Callisto unfavorably to the Furies. * Callisto states her last encounter with Ares was when she was in Xena's body. This refers to "Intimate Stranger" from XWP's second season. Both episodes were also written by Paul Robert Coyle. * In mythology, Tyndareus and Leda were the parents of Helen, whose choice of marriage companion did indeed cause an uproar. Hercules and Iolaus thus technically avert the Trojan War in this episode, although in reality it was Xena who dealt with the situation in a previous season. *The title is a reference to the film "Apocalypse Now". Ironically, while the word "armageddon" is a Greek transliteration of a Hebrew place name, the word "apocalypse" is wholly Greek in origin. Memorable Quotations "Welcome home, Callisto." "Hope? Why? It's over. Leave me alone." "Your work's not finished, Callisto." "I've done all I can." "Not yet. Your biggest challenge is ahead." "And what would that be?" "To rid the world of its greatest hero – Hercules." :–'''Hope and Callisto "It took Hephaestus months to forge those weapons!" "Well, Hephaestus needs a new hobby, like maybe knitting." :–'Ares' and Hercules "Won't you both join us?" "Hey, is the world supported on the back of four giant elephants?" :–'Tyndareus' and Iolaus "Hmm, I thought the world was round." "Really?" :–'Hercules' and Iolaus "Callisto? She's a twisted sister. Next to her, the Furies are, uh… mellow." :–'Strife' "So, you're the Sovereign? Gotta tell ya, love the beard." :–'Ares' "You people should fear me! Hide from me! Tremble at the sight of me! All I get are happy faces! I hate happy!" :–'The Sovereign' during his rampage "Nice to see he's mellowed out." "You should see him when he really gets mad." :–'Hercules' and Iolaus on the Sovereign "That's enough!" "Nobody talks to me like that!" around "Behave yourself and stop acting like a child." "You. You trapped me in that place. Well, I'm out now, and I'm not going back." "Oh, you're going back – one way or another." :–'Hercules' and The Sovereign "Oh, just great! Welcome to my nightmare!" "It's not so bad." "Tell me the cup is full and so help me…" :–'The Sovereign' and Hercules, trapped in Netherworld "What, are you crazy?! If I die, you'll die too!" "I don't care about dying anymore! I kill you; you kill me – it doesn't matter. Either way, it ends now." :–'Hercules' and The Sovereign "Oh! That was low!" Callisto "Well, I guess that was too, but oh well!" :–'Ares' "So, uh, let me be the first to welcome you to the club." "But I wouldn't wanna be in a club that would have me for a member." Strife with Hind's blood :–'Strife' and Callisto "He wasn't so bad. He tried hard. He-he was just no good at his job." Callisto "You didn't have to do this!" :–'Ares', mourning Strife's death "The one great evil is here. It's part of that creature that was with her. Oh, we've sensed him. Everyone on Olympus has. This… this force of darkness spells the end of all of us – gods and man alike." :–'Ares' "You're too late. It's too late for all of you." :–'Hope' to Iolaus and Ares "You're an idiot. You know that?" "You know nothing about me." "Oh, yes I do. Oh, yeah. See, I've watched you in here. You should make people worship you – tremble in fear. But what do you do? Oh, you help them out. You solve their puny problems. You're pathetic." "Maybe you're the one who's pathetic. You ever think about that? Are you so happy with your own life?" :–'The Sovereign' and Hercules Links and References Guest Star * Kevin Smith as Ares Special Guest Star * Hudson Leick as Callisto Other Cast * Kim Michalis as Young Alcmene * Joel Tobeck as Strife * Amy Morrison as Hope * Liddy Holloway as Alcmene * John Manning as King Tyndareus * Bernard Moody as Drunk * Mark Caldwell as Peasant * Rodney Cooke as Passerby * Les Dwight as Masher * Shirley Eliott as Gossip * Patrick Kake as Hercules / Sovereign Double References * Queen Leda * Xena * Amphitryon * Callisto 2 * Zeus * Ares II * Hera * Dahak * Arcadia * Netherworld * Narcolepsus Dust * Hind's Blood Dagger * Hind's Blood Pendant Season Navigation de:Armageddon, Teil 1 Category:HTLJ Season 4 episodes Category:Episodes set in alternate realities Category:Episodes featuring Callisto Category:Episodes Featuring Ares